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Ethiopia blames Egypt and Eritrea over unrest

Ethiopia's information minister says groups in Eritrea and Egypt are contributing to the unrest, which has led to a six-month state of emergency. Getachew Reda said the foreign elements are arming and financing opposition groups, but

Ethiopia’s information minister says groups in Eritrea and Egypt are contributing to the unrest, which has led to a six-month state of emergency.

Getachew Reda said the foreign elements are arming and financing opposition groups, but not necessarily with the formal backing of their governments.

Under the state of emergency troops will be deployed to quell protests.

It follows months of anti-government demonstrations by members of the country’s two largest ethnic groups.

Violence has intensified since the beginning of the month when at least 55 people were killed during a protests at an Oromo religious festival.

The state of emergency, which was announced on Sunday, will last for six months.

Mr Getachew told journalists in the Ethiopian, capital, Addis Ababa, that “all kinds of elements in the Egyptian political establishment” are involved but they were “not necessarily directly linked with the Egyptian government”, the AP news agency quotes him as saying.

The minister also pointed the finger at Eritrea, with which Ethiopia has a long-standing border dispute.

There has also been a long-running row with Egypt over Ethiopia’s decision to build a dam on the Nile, one of the river’s sources of which flows from Ethiopia to Egypt.

Mr Getachew earlier told the BBC that the state of emergency could involve banning protests.

“For the sake of maintaining public order the government believes that [the] temporary suspension of certain expression rights is warranted,” he explained.

“Armed violence that has been perpetrated by those organised gangs has been targeting civilians, has been targeting government installations, critical infrastructure.

“We have ample evidence that it is orchestrated by people who are in the business of not [just] dismantling the Ethiopian government but also dismantling the Ethiopian state in its entirety,” he said.

Mr Getachew also promised that the Ethiopian authorities would investigate claims that “off-grid” police officers had killed civilians.

BBC World Service Africa editor Mary Harper says the violent protests are the most serious threat to Ethiopian stability in a quarter of a century.

The protests in recent months have been over a series of frustrations including attempts by the governments to reallocate land in the Oromo region.

Rights groups say that more than 500 people have died following clashes between police and protesters.

Activists among the Oromo and Amhara communities complain that they are being politically excluded.

The Oromo and the Amhara make up about 60% of the population. They complain power is held by a small Tigrayan elite.

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16 COMMENTS
  • Teclay October 11, 2016

    ኣንታ እዞም ግብጻውያንስ ክጎርሑ ኣብ ክንዲ ባዕሎብ ካብ ርሑቕ መጺኦም ፣ተዋጊኦም ዝሰዓሩ ፡ዐያሹ ሓበሽ ረኺብካ ሓመድ ተጋብሮም ። ኣባይ ወይ Nile ድማ ሓንቲ ልትሮ ከይጎደሎ ጃሕ- ጃሕ እናበለ ናብ ኦም ይበጽሕ።ዓሽ ምስሪ።

    • Lukas October 11, 2016

      What an excellent observation and great comment, well said Mr Teclay.
      Ethiopia will come out of this a lot stronger and united just as Egypt did after its civil war and the defeat of the Muslim brotherhood. However, the present chauvinist and extremists of the Amhara and Oromo must learn and beware of the last consequences (when Menelik sided with fascist Italian to defeat Yohannes and then only to be invaded and attacked by same fascist Italian hence the Adwa war). Betraying own Mother land for political expediency will eventually backfire at them the opportunist sold out Arab/Egypt mercenaries.

      • Teclay October 12, 2016

        Lukas
        Brother Lukas thank you for your comment ,but unfortunately it is only one sided .
        You said that “However, the present chauvinist and extremists of the Amhara and Oromo must learn and beware of the last consequences “….Before pointing finger to the others,one should investigate him/herself ….In my opinion the Woyane and the Tigray elite in general made several mistakes;
        -To beging with ,why did they wage a war against their own Gov,(Ethiopian Gov) ??What is TPLF stands for (To liberate from whom ? from your own Gov?) …If the Ethiopian rulers were not good enough to govern the country ,the answer should have been ,establishing all Ethiopian revolutionary organization .In fact i heard that most of the top leaders of EPRP were Tigrians .
        It is not secret that all top positions of the Gov have been held by Tigrian elite ……What is the meaning of keeping TPLF for 24 years after the so called vicotory over the Ethiopian rulers ????
        Any way the killing of one Habesha by onother Habesha at 21 century is simpley idiotism …Our enemy is happyand exteremly delighted .

    • Tesfay October 12, 2016

      that is a very naive comment. Even the Arabs say ‘Habesh Hanesh!” Do not under estimate your own self!

      • Keren October 12, 2016

        Do you also know what the savage barbarian moslem Arab slave masters say about black kedemti/slaves/abeeds Tesfayata? Don’t be a naive/sold out kurkur Arab.

        • tesfay October 12, 2016

          from what they are doing to Civilian, women and children indiscriminately, it is fair to say they are the most barbaric people of our time.

  • Alem October 11, 2016

    Although weyane was successfully able to march a lot along the path to democracy and more than that was able to register tremendous growth and development, it tried to monopolize power by any means. More importantly, it did not do good job in approaching the secessionist oromos and chauvinist amharas. Weyane should have tried to bring them in to the government by offering those able ones some positions and trusting them and making them feel they are equally Ethiopians. If they had tried this and other similar methods, this would not have happened. As cities expand, farm lands are going to be taken, but compensating the affected farmers is important. I do not know why I am commenting on ethiopian issues, but this makes me feel like I am throwing a stone at neighbours house while I am living in a glass house.

    • Koubrom November 14, 2016

      Ooh giving advis to the master ,
      Weyane is over it’s about time soon we will bury that garbage
      I thought you care for human right , all those people death not enough start human right inquiry,you hypocrite like your father he kill so many of our people this baster
      need to be judge and executed and you have the audacity to call our leaders criminal you a daughter of criminal

  • k.tewolde October 12, 2016

    It is typical African politics,one step forward several steps back,we haven’t learned the art of conflict resolution yet,we just butcher each other up.While we are licking our wounds from the bloodbath,the white man comes in with his first aid kit to dab our crushed egos and gives us a solution that doesn’t fit with our dilemma and we accept it with gratitude.Mother Africa,she is the worst enemy of her children– she eats them.

    • Beraki October 12, 2016

      K.Tewolde
      Thank you for a good laugh of ‘Mother Africa, she is the worst enemy of her children – she eats them’. How could you be so cruel to accuse our loving mama Africa of eating us?????????
      You also stated about a white man that comes in with his first aid kit………..
      The only change this time around is a white woman (Chancellor Angela Merkel) comes in with her first aid kit instead of the white man with his first aid kit.

  • Tesfay October 12, 2016

    It could be true, but Issayas the human like Devil who imprisoned Ali Abdu’s daughter for simply being a daughter of a man who disagree with him will not live to see his dream of setting Ethiopia on fire. I do not think he will live another seven years from know.What we are witnessing today in Ethiopia is a result of excess democracy, youth who has little knowledge of the past, to appreciate the present, and compounded with corruption. If Ethiopia’s youth was not a beneficiary of the existing economic developments, then more than 50,000000 out of the 100000000 population could have flooded the Mediterranean sea like all other Africans youth heading to Europe.

    • AHMED SALEH !!! October 12, 2016

      Tesfay
      It took years of oppression , intimidation and fear to bring mental state of desperation
      on young generation to flee from their homes Ethiopian situation is different because
      the majority are united to support their demand in solidarity against minority rule and
      if people’s voice keep suppressed it always invite violent reaction which we don’t wish
      to happen .
      Bringing Issayas or Egypt to divert the root cause will not help to focus at the challenges
      that need to get addressed . Eritrean weakness was to ignore when failure started to appear from our government officials fault
      Weyane – CIA -traitors meet Eritrea -Egypt at center of both sides halfway journey . . .

    • Keren October 12, 2016

      You do not think that Esayas will live another seven years from now to witness or to see his dream of setting Ethiopia on fire. Will you live another seven years instead to fulfill his wishes?

      • tesfay October 12, 2016

        Keren, I may not even live one month but I am an individual who simply living my life, who care’s and would notice if I am alive or die?I am not affecting any one’s life. This dictator and Devil have affected the life of so many, he is so cruel and inhuman. He has the blood of so many on his hands. Eritrea has become his own personal property. He is the only actor, and decides every thing. are you ready to prosecute his children up on his death? that is what he did for Ali Abdu’s daughter. What about those who are dead and living in prison under extremely difficult conditions, those who disappeared(killed) with out reason. for life to continue Age and Health matters. He is at least much older than my self that is one fact for him to take the precedence and the other is because he has committed so much crime he has no peace with him self and that disturbs his health and knowing that he is public enemy, he did not want the public to know that he is Sick and we could all see the drama unfolding. You accept it or not he is not going to live another 7-years from now. Not because I hated him but because it is a natural process They say “politics is dirty game” and he is too dirty Old and unhealthy! Sorry if you are offended. .

  • Hadas October 12, 2016

    The Arabs with Egypt leading them had been vying to influence in Eritrea and Ethiopia in the last few centuries. The Arab Egyptians without any shame in the 1940s claimed “Eritrea is Egyptian territory” while Haile Selassie and the Italians were doing the same.
    This time the Arabs aim is stop the building of the great Nile dam – Ethiopia is planning to construct a nearly $5 billion dam, called the Great Millennium Dam, along the Nile River on the Sudan border. The dam will suction off a larger portion of the Nile than is used now by Ethiopia.
    A Khurdish elder sage said: an Arab comes to your house, first to trade trinkets, then to belittle your identity, burn your languages, later to take your sisters as a concubine then to ignite a war among brothers, at last to possess your own land. This is an Arab ideology in a nut shell.
    Who will forget the wars the expansionist Egyptians ignited in own land – Gundet, Tsehati, Gurae, Ku’atit …
    Do not be surprised of what the hypocrites and Arab apologists say here; that is what they are trained to bark at.

  • zenawi October 13, 2016

    Yes that what i thought too because all the soldiers shooting at erecha celebration are shaebia and egyptian soldierS….Yett hejae lefenda alech tota! Do you think we are that stupid? actually you are

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